


Code: LYOKO

by Alphawulf



Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: Blood, Canon Rewrite, Electricity, Gen, Minor Injuries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing, and also the kids have to actually deal with injuries and ptsd and stuff, as in being electricuted, basically its the show, but less dependent on sudden stupidity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 07:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19313557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alphawulf/pseuds/Alphawulf
Summary: (Working title)Current chapter: X.A.N.A Awakens, Part One----No more than three days later he’s back, standing in the room with the computer, tall and dull. That same symbol he saw on the hatch is on a panel along the circumference of the widest part of the structure in front of him, and when he presses a few fingers to it there’s the sound of a latch, and the panel opens. Inside is a lever, and as he takes hold of it, he has the stray thought of 'I really hope I won't regret this.'He pulls the lever.





	Code: LYOKO

**Author's Note:**

> So! This is chapter one of. Many, if my motivation stays with me. This is turning out longer than anticipated, which isn't a bad thing! These first two (at least) chapters will follow along fairly closely to the episodes they are based off of, but I will try to weave in a bit more original stuff / mix things up as I go along. Especially for the episodes that depend on a character's sudden ignorance or some other inconsistency.
> 
> I hope you, my reader, enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it! And please, don't forget to kudos, or even comment if you liked it! kudos keep me going, and comments make my whole week, as well as often inspire me to get a move on with the story telling!
> 
> For most of this one, the fic was nearly 1:1 wrt page number vs minutes into the show, but it fell a couple pages short of that trend by the end. Random fun facts!

Jeremie doesn’t _enjoy_ breaking curfew, per say, yet he finds himself wandering the school grounds in hopes of finding something or other he could incorporate into one or more of his robots he has built. Honestly, he doesn’t know what he really expected; he finds a couple loose screws hiding in corners of rooms, and small shards of sheet metal that would be completely useless to anyone, let alone him.

When he comes across the manhole cover in the middle of the park, he nearly disregards it, until he hears the soft crunch of grass nearby.

“Hey, who’s there?” A flashlight beam swipes across the trees, and he isn’t sure if he ducked out of the way in time. He spots Jim, the gym teacher, patrolling the grounds for delinquent students, presumably. Jeremie has never gotten in trouble during his time here at Kadic, and he doesn’t intend to start now, so he strains to move the cover before slipping into the hole beneath, barely pulling the lid back over as the sounds of grass under sneakers approaches.

Jeremie holds his breath, not daring to climb down the ladder he finds himself on in case it would draw Jim’s attention, who gives one last shout of ‘Hello?’ before walking off.

By the time he feels Jim is far enough away, his arms are shaking just a bit, from holding him up and being so tense for so long. He hastily descends, breathing deeply so his heart will stop racing. Looking around, he decides he’s in some sort of storm sewer system, and he finds himself immensely relieved that it doesn’t contain any actual sewage.

There are piles of junk around, however, and he finds himself drawn to them, searching for more bits and bobs he can slip into his backpack

 

He isn’t really keeping track of time, but his curiosity is piqued enough that, when he finds another ladder leading up to a different manhole cover, he hoists himself up and emerges on a bridge. To his left, he can see the city, glowing bright against the night sky, and he thinks he can see the trees of the park near Kadic. To his right, stands a large factory, though it seems like the upkeep on it has been nonexistent. Some of the windows are broken in, and those that aren’t are covered in so many layers of dust that he can’t see through them. The outer walls are stained with lines of rust, coming down from metal railings and such along it.

Curfew the furthest thing from his mind, he walks towards this strange sight, any drowsiness that may have been settling in evaporating as a sense of adventure flares inside him. As soon as he steps inside, he knows he’ll be back, eyeing the massive interior and the many abandoned shapes of items around. His urge to rummage is overpowered by his need to explore, so he does what any sensible junior high student would do: Spying cords hanging from the ceiling in front of him, he takes one in his hand, tests its weight bearing capabilities, before using it to slide down to the lower level of the sprawling open space.

He can easily picture many machines filling the floor, building who knows what - cell phones, computers, cars, textiles - and he wonders what happened to this place to make it so devoid of purpose. It doesn’t really matter now, he supposes, as its new purpose is to provide him with robot parts (if he’s lucky, he may even get some circuits he can try to repurpose).

Before he can get too distracted, he does take note of the service elevator next to him and presses the button on the panel. He doesn’t want to use it, not really, he just wants to see if it even runs. There is the sound of motors , but it’s brief, and the elevator doesn’t make an effort to come up, so he spins on his heel and looks for other means of getting to the sub floors.

Some distance away, across the floor, is a large set of stairs leading downwards, and that’s where he finds his feet taking him. He travels through a boiler room which, after a quick, surface level inspection, seems to be in working order. He carries on, pace fast due to his excitement, and he finds a ladder rising up to a walkway with access to a square hole near the top of the room, and before he knows it he’s up there, looking through the opening as his breath catching in his throat.

A large computer, with a comfortable looking chair, holds most of his attention. He takes in the rest of the room in spurts, between staring at the computer and all its glory - the circular metal pedestal-like structure in the dead center of the room, the large wires near the peripheries, the electrical mess of _stuff_ exposed through the open ceiling, the dome like rigging along the ceiling.

There’s a ladder leading down on this side, and he sure as hell clambers down and approaches the monitor, suspended from the rigging by a thick, sturdy arm. He taps a few keys, waits a few moments, then taps a few more in impatience. The monitor stays dark, and the disappointment he feels is nearly on a physical level.

He looks around, but he can’t find the tower this monitor is connected to, nor an on-off switch. He trails his hand around the circular _thing_ in the middle of the room, displacing the dust there - the device is less a pedestal and more, well, he isn’t sure what. It has a shape that could hold a large ball, but other than that its use escapes him. The only other thing of note in this room stands in front of him is a wide door, he assumes. It looks almost like a safe, a raised circular device in the middle that makes him think it’s locked.

Regardless, he presses the button off to the left of the door, and he hears motors kick to life, a sustained rumble, before the lock on the door gives a pressurized hiss and twists, no longer interlocking, and the doors slide open with a whir, and he’s staring into what he now realizes is an elevator. He guesses it’s the elevator he tried to call before, from his estimates of his trek through this factory, though he doesn’t quite get why it refused to go to the top of its designated path.

More intrigued than scared, he goes down a level, and the elevator shows no further signs of acting up.

He’s let out into a room with three tall mechanical tubes, full of wires that snake into the ground and disappear, and his mind is racing with ideas of what they could be used for. 3D printing of lifesize objects? Or perhaps to scan an object and make a 3D model of it in the system, for modifying and perfecting? He wants nothing more than to delve into the mechanics of them all, yet he’s afraid he wouldn’t be able to reconstruct it once he was done.

A project for later then, he decides with a nod of his head, before returning to the elevator to go to the next subfloor. This one opens on an empty room - circular like the ones above, yet void of any specific use. There are more wires, visible in a band around the center of the room, which has a design that resembles a target of some kind.

Jeremie nearly leaves the room to find more interesting things to look at, when he spots a lever on the wall a few feet from the elevator. With just as much brashness he’s shown through the earlier parts of this expedition, he takes the cold rubber handle in his hand and pushes it up. The room is immediately filled with noise, and he whips around, to see the symbol split in two, as the hatch it was painted on opens with the occasional thunk of metal against metal. From the pit left behind, a dull grey tower rises ominously, nearly as tall as he is, and then a second, wider tower underneath it emerges too. Once the lower cylinder is up to his chest, it all gives a shudder before locking into place.

The room is filled with loud buzzing as the mechanics power down, and then he is left in eerie silence that feels even quieter after such a cacophony. He approaches this new structure, runs a hand over its smooth outer shell, and unless his mind is becoming overloaded and unable to come to correct conclusions, he guesses this might just be the heart of the computer, the thing to which the monitor two floors up is connected, and a mixture of elation and dread races through him.

Does he dare turn it on? He isn’t sure what this is even for, let alone what it’s capable of. Then again, he could learn so much from it, have access to technologies beyond his current arsonal.

It might not even _work_ for all he knows, and he steps back to consider it all, pacing around the largest computer he’s ever laid eyes on. The pros and cons are fair and balanced, and all reasonably so, and he realizes this isn’t something he should try to decide on the spot.

With his thoughts still racing from all his discoveries tonight, he steps back into the elevator and takes it to the top. It lets him out where he had suspected - back on the floor of the main factory room, the ropes he slid down mere meters away.

He’ll spend at least a week mulling it over, he tells himself. Then he will let himself make a decision on the computer. Plus, no matter what he decides, there’s numerous parts around he could use in his robots (for a while he had forgotten the purpose in coming here, but the slight metallic jingle in his bag reminds him as he does his best to climb the ropes.)

 

No more than three days later he’s back, standing in the room with the computer, tall and dull. That same symbol he saw on the hatch is on a panel along the circumference of the widest part of the structure in front of him, and when he presses a few fingers to it there’s the sound of a latch, and the panel opens, much like the floor the other day. Inside is a lever, and as he takes hold of it, he has the stray thought of ‘ _I really hope I won’t regret this.'_

He pulls the lever.

There’s a brief moment where nothing happens, all is silent, before a whirring noise starts, low but reaching a higher pitch as whatever component it belongs to powers on. Lights start to crawl up the computer, yellow and orange, and Jeremie is nearly knocked off his feet when the fans kick on, whipping his hair around his head like mad. Instinctively, he backs up until he’s no longer being buffeted, back against the elevator door.

He takes in the majesty of the computer, in all its glowing glory, before he is filled with the need to go through everything it has to tell him. The elevator is called, door opened, and just moments later he is back in the lab, rushing to take a seat in front of the monitor.

This time, when he taps the keyboard, the screens - plural, three side by side - blink to life, and he doesn’t even try to hold back his grin. Already prepared to dive into the console of this behemoth, he’s startled when a window auto opens on the middle screen.

He’s met with a video feed, of what looks to be an animated character - a girl, with bright pink hair cut short, ears elf-like. It looks as if she’s asleep.

“Woah,” he can’t help but verbalize, taken aback by the rendering capabilities of this machine, “what _is_ this, a video game? Some sample animation?” The girl on screen comes to with a start, and he wonders just how many pixels are in her model, as her expression is easily discernible - it’s one of shock.

She blinks, glances around, before her eyes seem to look directly into Jeremie’s own.

“Wh-who are you? Who am I? _Where_ am I?”

“Amazing,” he says, fascinated by the entirety of whatever program is running this. He’ll have to find it and deconstruct it, this is years ahead of modern video game technology!

“Amazing? What’s amazing?” She’s squinting now, and Jeremie is broken from his wonder when he shifts and her eyes follow him perfectly.

“Wait, you can understand me?” he asks, shifting once more to make sure he didn’t imagine her gaze following him. He didn’t.

“Well, yes, why wouldn’t I?” She sounds indignant, and she continues with a tilt of her head, “now would you mind answering my questions?”

“Ah, well uh. Could you repeat them?” Honestly, he wasn’t paying attention, thinking it was merely some pre-rendered and pre-recorded thing.

“What-” a pause, “do you have a name?”

“Oh, right! I’m Jeremie Belpois. And you?”

Her face falls somewhat, “I don’t know. I might have one, but it escapes me. I was hoping you might know." Neither talk for a few moments, before she looks up at Jeremie once again, “Where are we?”

He informs her of the factory, and how she seems to be some sort of artificial intelligence, and a responsive one at that. He asks her about her surroundings - she’s in the center of some sort of cylinder, walls covered in lines of code rapidly passing by her. She’s able to turn what he can only imagine is a screen in front of her to show him, rather than trying to describe it all herself. As they talk, he examines the programs and files that are accessible on the computer - one of which mentions an elevator code that he mentally notes.

It’s all extremely fascinating to Jeremie, and far too quickly does his watch beep at him.

Her head is tilted once more. “And what was that?”

“Ah, it’s just my watch. I set an alarm so I could get back to school in time for dinner.”

“I see,” she says,  but does not appear to in the slightest. He can’t help but laugh just a little.

“I have to go to school to learn things, and dinner is kind of like one of the ways I charge my proverbial battery,” he explains, and the confusion on her face seems to fade.

They say their goodbyes, he powers down the monitor, and he’s halfway back to school grounds, in the tunnels under the city, when he realizes that he just had a normal and pleasant conversation, something that hasn’t really happened for a while.

 

Jeremie finds himself headed to the abandoned factory nearly every day, to chat with the A.I. and figure out just what that powerful computer is hiding in its codes.

“Hey, artificial intellIgence, it seems you’re in a place called Lyoko,” he says out of the blue, after the conversation lulled some time ago. She looks up at him, a small frown.

“While I appreciate the information, could you not call me that? It feels so impersonal.”

“Oh, alright, what should I call you then?”

“I’m not sure, I was hoping you might have some suggestions?”

Jeremie brings a hand to his face, resting his chin as he rummages through his brain. “Maya? Maybe Clara?”

“I like Maya.”

“Maya it is then! Anyways, _Maya,_ there looks to be way more to this _Lyoko_ than just a room. Can you get out of there? Any windows, or doors?”

The video feed’s perspective shifts a bit, as she presumably stands up.

“No, no openings that I can see. It’s all just that code, making up the walls. Are you sure- oh, hold on.”

“Maya? What’s happening?” The feed has gone dark, window closing on its own moments later, and panic starts to form in his chest.

“I walked through the wall!” Her voice comes through the speakers, though no longer accompanied by a visual, and his nerves calm. “It’s amazing out here, everything’s so bright and I can see for _kilometers_ -”

Jeremie would love nothing more than to keep listening to her, but a small beeping tone comes from the center of the room, and then everything is suddenly a whole lot brighter. He glances around the monitor and gasps.

The thing that he couldn’t figure out the purpose of, it’s glowing and above it now sits a shape, holographically projected. He can’t help but stand up and walk over to it - it’s rotating, the image, before setting with a green colored section towards the console. He reaches a hand out, and it passes right through the image, which seems to glitch until the obstruction is removed.

The image itself is simple enough; a small ball, surrounded by four ovals of varying color. The green oval has a flashing circle on its surface.

From the monitors, he hears a faint call of his name, and he makes his way back.

“Sorry, a holographic image just appeared. I’m thinking it may be a map! If I’m reading it right, you seem to be in an area coded green.”

“I would have to agree, I’m surrounded by tall trees, a forest of them!”

“Amazing! Are you able to give me a visual?”

“I can certainly try, just give me a moment.”

He does his best to be patient, and when another window opens, he scoots up in his chair. Massive trees reach into the sky, foliage blocking out any attempted view of things beyond. There are paths crisscrossing between the trunks, covered in a realistic grass texture that, when Maya steps on it, actually seems to bend like real grass, rather than clipping through her foot.

The view swings around - it seems to be based on where Maya is looking. A tall tower, mostly white, but with black at the base as if covered with withered vines, reaches into the sky, thicker than the trees and piercing the leaf layer.

“That’s what I walked out of,” she provides, and Jeremie nods, before he realizes she can’t currently see him.

“This is incredible! Can you explore around more? Maybe we can figure out how to get you to one of the other three areas!”

“I’ll see if I can find anything.”

Both fall silent after that, for different reasons. Maya simply because it’s all a little overwhelming, this world she finds herself in. She can’t help but wish to be back in the room she had been in, this forest feeling too large in comparison.

Jeremie, on the other hand, finds himself taken aback by the graphics, the way he can see leaves shifting in a virtual wind, the roughness of the tree trunks - he does wonder if that’s due to a more detailed structuring, or simply a very well rendered texture.

“I don’t think I’m alone here,” her voice cuts into his thoughts, “there’s some sort of creatures down the path.”

“Creatures? This is great, there seems to be a whole simulated ecosystem, with animals and everything! Can you get a closer look?” He sees the creatures on the display,  weird brown blobs suspended on six little silver legs. They look at each other, and then towards Maya.

Jeremie wonders just how many other AI’s are in this world when he hears Maya scream.

“Jeremie! They’re shooting lasers at me!”

“Run!”

He watches with horror as she runs away - glancing back occasionally at the approaching beasts. She stumbles, and a seperate window - one with her picture on it - appears and a meter ticks down. It appears that this _is_ a video game, and that shot took out a chunk of her health points.

“Get back to the tower, quick! Before they can shoot you again!”

“I’m nearly the-” she cuts herself off with a scream, and her health points dip lower still - she has fallen just outside the tower. She’s pushing herself back to her feet when a third shot makes contact, and the feed shows the tower rapidly approaching Maya as she falls, cutting out when contact would have been made.

“Maya! Maya, are you okay?” For a moment, her health points fell nearly to zero, though now that she’s presumably in the tower, they’re slowly ticking back up.

Jeremie lets out a breath and slouches in his chair, and doesn’t leave until Maya is responsive once more. In the interim, he digs through the programs to see if there’s any indication of what just happened.

  


 

Odd checks the paper in his hand, then the plaque next to the door in front of him. The numbers match; this must be his class.

He arrived here just this morning, his plane touching down as the sun broke over the horizon, and he has been talking to administration ever since. There’s a drowsiness hanging over him, and he nearly just stayed in the dorm room he was assigned, but he figured he should go to his first day of classes, at least just to save face.

Besides, the principal, one Mr. Delmas, described what his new roommate looked like, and told him that they had this class together. It seems like a good idea, to meet the boy he’ll be sharing a living space with for the coming school year, at least.

So he finds himself stepping into the classroom, as other students are filtering in. Once he’s in the door, he searches for a boy with short brown hair - though that only narrows it down to four or so of the twenty something students.

One is sitting next to someone with orange hair, something almost conspiratorial between the two, another seems to already have fallen asleep on his desk. The third may actually be closer to a blond, now that Odd is looking closer, and the final one is sitting at a desk to himself, staring out the window.

He takes his chances with the lattermost boy, if only not to disturb the first two he checked.

“Hey, are you Ulrich Stern?” he asks when he’s even with the desk where the lone boy is seated. Odd receives a look, somewhat squinted, as the other boy takes in Odd’s appearance. It’s a fair thing to do; Odd hasn’t seen any other kid around with dyed hair yet, even just a streak like he has.

“Depends on who’s asking,” the boy who most definitely is Ulrich says, leaning back in his chair with an air of casualty. Odd gives a dramatic semi-bow, when earns an eye roll from Ulrich.

“Odd Della Robbia, his new roommate!” Odd takes the empty seat next to Ulrich, who recoils at the news.

“What?” is all Ulrich can choke out, but Odd is not deterred.

“I just transferred here, and I was assigned to be your roommate.”

“Uh huh. Does that mean you have to sit next to me too?”

“Well, I figured if we’re gonna be sharing a room, we might as well get to know each other.”

“Hm, well, don’t get your hopes up, Della Robbia, I don’t really _do_ friends.”

Odd holds his hands up, in a placating manner. “Don’t worry, I won’t be too annoying.”

Ulrich just looks like he’s already had too much of Odd, and before Odd can try and change that, a girl walks up to their desk.

“Oh, Ulrich, sweetie, you should swing by my dorm at ten or so, I’ve got something _very_ important to tell you.” She’s off to her own desk before Ulrich can even respond, though he does scrunch up his face with a groan.

“Ulrich _sweetie_?” Odd prompts, and when Ulrich doesn’t immediately answer, Odd continues, “Who’s the babe?”

Ulrich groans again, “she’s Sissi, the principles daughter. A lot of guys are into her, she’s _popular_ or whatever, but she’s just annoying. Plus, she seems totally into me, and no matter how much I tell her no, she doesn’t seem to get the hint!”

“Sought after by the popular girl? Sounds pretty nice to me!”

“Ugh, no, it’s terrible.”

“If you say so.” Odd tilts back in his chair absentmindedly.

Their little chat is cut short by the bell ringing and the teacher beginning her lecture.

  


 

Odd has not left Ulrich’s side since he introduced himself, and to say it’s getting on Ulrich’s nerves is an understatement.

“Do you have to be my shadow now? Full offence, but I do prefer to be alone.”

“Well, we do have to get used to each other,  so might as well jump in the deep end, right?”

“Wrong.” He’s walking at a quick enough pace that Odd has to put in some effort to walk side by side with him, and Ulrich feels satisfaction in that. He had been heading towards the vending machines, but honestly he doesn’t really care enough to buy anything, so he ends up just leaning against the wall nearby.

Odd, of course, joins him.

“Personally, I think it’s best to get through all the bull as quickly as possible! That way, we’ll know each other faster.”

Ulrich is mere moments away from telling Odd to buzz off, when there’s a shout, coming from where the vending machines are. Ulrich quickly rounds the corner in time to see Belpois collapse against the drink machine, hair standing up just a bit.

“Belpois!” He falls to his knees next to the guy, maybe hitting the ground a bit too hard, and checks him over. There’s a faint smell of burning, so Ulrich decides the machine must have given him quite a shock, though it no longer seems to be doing so. Grabbing one of Belpois’ arms, he gets it over his own shoulder, and turns to Odd, who has been looking on in barely concealed shock.

“I’m gonna get him to the infirmary, you go tell a teacher what happened, okay?”

“Okay,” and Odd rushes off. Ulrich doesn’t even have time to think about celebrating the respite from his new roommate as he carefully helps Belpois stand.

 

The nurse is surprised, but not too worried once she hears the situation.

“You’ll be fine,” her voice is calming, soft, “just a few superficial burns on your right hand. They may sting for a day or two, so I’ll give you some cream to put on them to make it feel better.”

Belpois is on one of the beds in the infirmary, Ulrich standing by. The school nurse grabs a small tube, applies some to the reddened skin along Belpois’ fingers and palm, before wrapping it up loosely. She ends up handing Belpois the rest of the tube.

“Well, you got your juice,” Ulrich jokes before mentally wincing, the joke too close to the humor Odd has been slinging his way all day.

“Ha ha, very funny Stern.” There’s an amused lilt to his voice. “Thank you for the help.”

“It’s no problem,” Ulrich waves noncommittally, “I’ve got a martial arts class here soon, but I’ll check in on you later, just in case it fried your brain too.”

He’s halfway out the door when he hears the nurse respond, with a laugh, “I’m sure his brain is just fine.”

 

When Ulrich walks into the gymnasium, he’s the only student there, a mere minute before the extra curricular is supposed to begin. The gym teacher is pacing in the center of the room; he perks up when he spots Ulrich approaching him.

“There is some interest! Good, good, I was starting to think it was some sort of prank.” He’s standing in the middle of the gym now, arms behind his back. Ulrich just decides to sit on the floor a couple meters away.

“No pranks here, sir, I’m glad the school added a martial arts class.”

“Yeah, well, if there isn’t a little more interest in Pencak Silat, it may not be around for long. Anyways, since you’re here, Mister Stern, why don’t you tell me about your past experience in this art?”

“I took some classes a couple years ago, and I was pretty good at it, but ever since the studio near my house closed down I haven’t had the chance to continue.”

“Ah, hopefully you’ve held onto some of your training. Not to brag, but I’m quite the master of martial arts myself?”

“Oh, are you? Do tell,” comes a third voice, and they turn to see a girl approaching, from a door opposite where Ulrich entered from. “Also, sorry I’m a bit late, but it doesn’t seem like I missed much.”

“Ah, right, Miss Ishiyama, perhaps this class won’t be a boys club after all! Hah!” His laughter dies down rather awkwardly when neither student seems to find the joke as amusing as Jim had.

“So what was that about being a martial arts master?” Ishiyama prompts, taking a seat close to Ulrich. From his current position - somewhat slouched - she’s sitting taller than him, so he subtly straightens his back, but to no avail; she’s still got a couple centimeters on him.

“Ah, right, well, you see, I was out camping. Not for pleasure, mind you! I was hired by the park to investigate some strange noises out by one of the waterfalls! As I settled in for the night, enjoying some fresh made pancakes with maple syrup, when I heard a rustling outside my camp. Suddenly, a vicious beaver lunged at me! It was going for my jugular, but thanks to my expertise in the arts, I was able to save myself! It just goes to show-”

He’s interrupted when Ulrich and the girl start laughing at him.

“What! What’s so funny!”

“S- sorry sir!” Ishiyama is able to get out, between laughing.

“Yeah, no offence, but maybe you would have been better off not talking about it!” Ulrich adds.

“Hrmph. Well, anyways, we’re here for a reason, so let’s get to it! Pair up, and show me what you know.” He seems a little displeased, and Ulrich would feel bad if he wasn’t still smiling. He drops the look, however, when he sees Ishiyama’s smug look.

He runs through all the strategy he can remember, after he stands up, bouncing on the balls of his feet to hype himself up. She, on the other hand, quickly stretches out her arms before taking her place across from him.

Ulrich wants to wipe that confident look off her face.

They both settle into position, and she bows before the round begins. It throws Ulrich off just a bit - should he have done the same? The thought is quickly wiped from his mind as she aims a kick at his face, and he ducks out of the way, glad that had been so prepared to dodge. Another kick, lower this time, and he uses his arms to block the blow.

As if to show off, she puts some distance between them by doing a _backflip,_ during which he does his best to land a hit on her, but she’s too fast. She lands gracefully, and he’s distracted by the determination in her eyes.

“Pretty good,” he says, and she smiles until, “for a beginner.”

The kick she aims at his face comes too fast for him to avoid. He hits the floor, on his back, and before he knows it she’s above him, hands on his shoulders to hold him down. He does his best to try and push her off, but with no successl.

When a strand of her hair tickles his cheek, his strength leaves him in favor simply laying there, annoyance bubbling up. When he stops fighting, she does too, and all is still for a few moments more.

A loud clap rings through the room, “Alright, not bad, not bad, but you two could definitely use a lot more practice. I think this is good for our first class. I’ll figure out specific exercises for you two to go over next time. For today though, I think we all deserve some well earned rest.”

She stands up, and offers a hand to Ulrich, but he refuses the help, and when she bows once more he simply walks away, upset he lost so fantastically.

“Nice to meet you too,” he hears her angrily mutter under her breath.

 

Ulrich makes his way back to his room, already planning to just get some shuteye. When he opens the door, however, reality comes crashing back to him.

Odd is laying on the previously vacant bed, giving a half hearted wave as he spots Ulrich, though there’s a much more pressing issue than his new roommate.

The room is an absolute mess. Aside from the carelessness Odd has with his own possessions, Ulrich’s stuff is all over, knocked off tables and scattered across the floor. His pillow is spewing feathers, a few fluttering with the movement of the opening door.

And on his bed, _in his blanket,_ he sees the tip of a whip like tail wagging like nobody's business.

“What the hell! What is a dog doing in here!” He tosses his bag against the wall, above his bed; the dog startles, jumping off the bed, blanket still over its head, and it lands gracelessly on the floor.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just going a little stir crazy. He’s not used to being in such a small room, are you?” Odd has picked up the mutt, and seems to have started talking to it rather than to Ulrich, who groans.

“It’s not even supposed to _be_ here, there’s no pets allowed in the dorms!”

“I couldn’t just leave him at home! My sisters don’t treat him right.”

“And bringing him to school and making him live in a tiny room is better?”

“Exactly! I knew you would get it!”

“The only thing I’m getting is the principal, that mutt has wrecked my things!” And he’s back out the door, slamming it behind him, his last nerve nearly frayed.

  


 

Jeremie, armed with some knowledge he gathered while he waited for Maya to recover from the attack, is at his own desktop in his dorm. It’s possible to form a connection between the supercomputer and his own, and once he can get that done, he could talk to her from the luxury of his own room.

It’s when he’s writing this code that he hears the sound of gears turning, and he glances at the miniature robot he has on his desk; the robot itself is unmoved, so he figures he must have just imagined it. He turns back to his computer, but instead of being met with the code he had been writing, he’s met with that logo again, that target with those extra lines - his computer is unresponsive to his keytaps and his mouse jiggling.

That’s when it happens again, the noise, from the ground this time, and suddenly his leg is _stinging,_ like needles, as a different robot makes contact and electricity flows from it to him. The current isn’t too strong; he’s able to stand up with a start and back away, but when he looks up, the robot on his desk has fallen off and is approaching him, along with the one off his shelf. His back hits his closet, and he blinks a few times.

They should be off, their controls are boxed away so they shouldn’t be _moving -_ and one of the three makes contact once more and he feels his leg muscles seize.

His dorm door opens, and there’s Stern once again - Jeremie realizes he has been shouting, and with good reason too! - kicking his leg to dislodge the robot, to no avail.

Stern doesn’t even try to ask questions first, reaching for the robot to grab and pull. He succeeds, holding it above his head, but both boys receive quite the shock from the other two robots still on the ground. Stern throws the robot in his hands against the wall, and hears a satisfying crash, as he kicks at the robot attempting to crawl up his leg, sparking against him as it does so.

Jeremie smacks the robot off of himself, and when he does so the one on Stern whirls to a stop before simply falling off of him, just as still as they had been mere minutes ago.

“Didn’t know you were into fighting robots, Belpois!”

“I’m not! They’re not programmed to do that, they just attacked me all of a sudden.”

“That makes total sense.” The sarcasm is palpable.

“It’s hard to explain, nevermind.”

“Woah woah, hold on, maybe I can help? Just try to explain it to me; I’ve already saved you twice now from evil electronics. What if you get attacked again and I’m not around to rescue you? Maybe next time there will be an… evil cell phone that fries your ear!”

Jeremie shakes his head, but does not grace Stern with a verbal reply. Stern takes a seat in the now unoccupied desk chair, crossing his arms and giving Jeremie a look.

“I won’t leave until you tell me what’s going on here.”

Jeremie sighs. Looks to his robots, his computer - the code back on screen, the symbol nowhere to be seen - then to Stern.

“You know what? Alright. My life’s weird enough already, I may as well let someone in on it.”

Stern perks up, head tilted ever so slightly, and Jeremie makes his way over to his door, shutting it.

“First things first, though: Can you keep a secret?”

  


 

“So, one more time: You _aren’t_ gonna murder me?” Ulrich’s voice echoes eerily in the tunnels he finds himself in with Belpois.

“No, of course not! Besides, I doubt I could, considering,” he motions to his physique, one of a kid who doesn’t do any physical exercise if he can help it, compared to Ulrich’s own toned muscles from all the extra curriculars he partakes in.

“Point taken. Okay, another question: _Why_ does the gym connect to these tunnels?”

“I’m not too sure myself, but it’s pretty useful for avoiding Jim if you’re out past curfew.”

“ _You?_ Breaking curfew? Guess there’s more to you than just being the smartest kid in our grade!”

Belpois averts his eyes, as if embarrassed, “It’s only because of what I’m about to show you. There’s another way out of here, in the park, we can use it on our way back.”

“That’s nice and all, but you won’t even give me a _hint_ as to where you’re taking me?”

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

“Uh huh. That’s not suspicious or anything. I’m beginning to think you’re lying to me about the whole ‘murder’ thing.”

“You can leave at any time, you know. I’m not forcing you to come with me.”

“That’s just what you _want_ me to think.” Ulrich’s still walking in step with Belpois though. It’s mostly just banter, to pass the time. They reach a ladder, and come up on a bridge. Belpois, without hesitation, walks towards the run down building, and Ulrich follows after a beat.

Inside, Belpois takes hold of a rope hanging from the ceiling and swings himself down a floor, and as Ulrich follows his movements with his eyes, the ground seems to blur, twisting, like it’s not a solid thing.

“What’s wrong? Afraid of heights?” Belpois asks, and his voice seems much farther away than he probably is.

“No! No, I’m okay." Eyes firmly shut, he reaches out and finds the rope, his heart in his throat as he gives it his whole weight and slides down. The relief he feels when his feet contact the concrete floor is overwhelming, and he follows the blue-yellow shape of Belpois, his vision slowly clearing up. Belpois removes the front off of what he takes to be a control panel for the nearby service lift. Behind it is a keypad, and he can’t quite follow the numbers that get punched in, but as the front of the panel is put back into place, the elevator rises up and opens.

“And you're sure _this_ is safe?”

“It hasn’t killed me yet. You scared?” He makes a face at that and stubbornly walks into the elevator, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Belpois only grins as the door closes.

 

The computer in front of him is _massive_ , and Belpois is at the keyboard.

“This is it: The supercomputer I found.”

“So… what about it?”

“What about it?! It’s an ultra powerful computer with processing power beyond anything you or I have ever seen! It runs this- this _virtual universe_ called Lyoko, with its own ecosystem!”

“Uh, Earth to Belpois, but I think all those electric shocks you got today messed something up in your head. I mean, it’s just the control center for the factory, right?”

“Okay, and what about this,” he’s typing furiously, “a program for spray painting doors?” A window opens on screen - a pink haired girl is smiling in it.

“Hello again, Jeremie.”

“Who’s the girl?”

“Her name is Maya, and she’s an artificial intelligence who lives on Lyoko. She lives in some sort of tower, and if she tries to leave, creatures try to attack her.”

“Okay stop. You programmed her, right? This is just some weird joke you’re playing.”

“No, not at all. When Jeremie turned on the supercomputer, I woke up. I don’t have any memories from before that happened.”

“You’re both sure this isn’t just. An advanced video game?”

“If it is, then it’s an extremely dangerous one.  Those creatures that attacked her - they had this weird logo on them - and just before my robots attacked me I saw the same logo on my computer screen!”

“Wait, ok. So you’re trying to tell me that this weird video game monster that wants to hurt Maya, wants you dead too? And can come out of the video game to do so?”

“That’s what it seems like, yes.”

“Then you should just. Shut it down, right? If there really is something _that_ dangerous in this computer, you shouldn’t let it exist.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right-”

“I _am_ right.”

“-but I want to help Maya out too. She’s stuck there, with no memory, and if we shut down the supercomputer, we shut her down too. I’ve been digging through the code of this thing, and I think… I think I can bring her to our world. She’s there for a reason, she’s _got_ to be! And I want to help her figure it out.”

“O-kay, Belpois, and why do you think you can do that?”

“Trust me, Stern. I am the smartest kid in Kadic’s 8th grade, aren’t I?”

 

They’ve gone down a floor, and here there are what appear to be vertical, metal coffins. Ulrich can’t be bothered to come up with a better comparison.

“These things are scanners,” Belpois is explaining, and Ulrich merely raises an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, my search through the programs of the computer have yet to turn up a program for bringing Maya to our world… But I have found something else. See,” Belpois has stepped into one of the three cylindric casings, “these cabins can scan something from our world - you or me or any living creature, really - and break down the atoms making up said being. It then processes them, stores their data, and is able to make a replica of whatever it scanned directly onto Lyoko!”

“So…?”

“Creature goes in cabin, creature appears on lyoko.”

“Riiight. This tech _definitely_ exists, in some run down factory that nobody has stepped foot in in _years._ Makes _total_ sense.”

“You don’t believe me,” it’s a statement, not a question, “okay, look. I can show you. Just - we’re gonna need some sort of guinea pig, to scan and virtualize. And then you’ll see. D’you think you can get us a test subject?”

Ulrich can’t help but smile just a bit, “it won’t be an _actual_ guinea pig, but I think I know just what to bring.” Two birds, one stone; Ulrich, you’re a genius.

 

Odd is asleep when Ulrich opens their dorm door, the dog napping at his feet. Ulrich does his best to be quiet, not wanting to wake his roommate - he doesn’t think Odd would _agree_ with what he’s doing. Just a hunch.

The dog, though, has lifted its head to look Ulrich in the eyes - there’s no intelligence there, Ulrich decides.

“C’mere, you little mutt, I’ve got a little treat for you.” It wags its tail, as if it understands the words. Though once Ulrich gets his hands under its ribcage and lifts it, it yelps in protest, and he’s a bit too late in putting a hand around its snout to silence it - Odd stirs at the disturbance, and his eyes blink open.

Ulrich bolts from the room, hearing Odd shout behind him - footsteps are racing after him mere moments later. He rounds a corner, on his way to the stairs, and there’s Sissi, all dressed up and on the boy’s floor.  He had forgotten she had told him to meet him tonight, not that he had been planning on actually showing up.

Luckily, he hears Odd collide with her, buying him precious seconds to gain more of a lead as he races to the gym, and to the factory. There are still footsteps behind him as he goes - two sets now. He gets to the elevator without incident, and punches in the code Belpois told him - nearly flubbing it a couple times as he enters it. He only allows himself to relax when the doors slide shut and he is sent down two floors to the scanner room, as Belpois called it.

The dog is placed inside one of the tubes, and hesitantly Ulrich says, “sit?”

A moment passes, and the mutt does indeed sit. That makes this a little easier, at least.

Ulrich stands up and holds out a hand, “stay,” and he backs away, the dog sitting still. Convinced his job is done, he approaches the ladder along the side of the room that leads back up to the lab - where Belpois is seated at the monitor.

“Everything is in place.”

“Alright, I’ll get this program running.”

  


 

Odd watches as the elevator descends, and he lets out a noise in his frustration.

“What is he even _doing_ ? He _took_ my _dog_!”

“He stood me up!” Sissi adds, and Odd looks around for any idea of where to go next. Waiting for the elevator would be too long - besides, he thought he saw Ulrich do _something_ to the panel, so Odd may not even get it to _work_ if it does come back up.

There’s a ladder leading down the elevator shaft, and without a second thought he’s on it, climbing down, Sissi following suit. She’s fretting over what could be happening to Odd’s dog - some frankenstein story, then something about a sacrifice.

It takes some time, but they reach the elevator, still, and climb through the hatch on the top.

“Ulrich!” But the offending party doesn’t seem to be in this room.

Kiwi is though, sitting in some weird glowing structure.

“Kiwi! My little diggity dog!” He races forward, Sissi approaching much slower. Kiwi yaps happily, standing up with a vicious tail wag. Odd scoops him up with a laugh, pressing his face against Kiwi’s side.

His dog wiggles, then jumps from Odd’s arms, and the force of it knocks him off balance. He catches himself against the bright interior of the thing Kiwi had been sitting inside.

The doors close as he rights himself. He thinks his heart stops for a moment. Sissi screams from outside, “is this some sort of tomb? I think you’re about to be mummified!” He tries to tell her she’s being ridiculous, tries to find purchase along the seam of the door, but neither seem to do much of anything. She continues to call out - for help, or for anything really - but Odd stops paying attention when a wind seems to come from below him, sending his hair up and out of his face. His clothes lift as well, and the light around him grows brighter - a bar around the edge ascends and descends, as if it’s checking him over.

His panic rises as his body does, feet no longer feeling the metal underneath him.

  


 

“Transferring test subject,” Jeremie mutters, narrating his actions, and Stern, who had been leaning against the chair, straightens up, “Scanning test sub-”

“Hold on, that doesn’t look like the dog,” he searches the features of the shape shown, and if only due to the advanced graphics card allowing for such details, he recoils, “that’s that new kid! Odd Della Robbia, my roommate! He followed me, he must have gotten inside somehow!”

“Oh no, I - I don’t know how to stop the program!” There’s screaming from the room below now.

“Crud,” Stern shakes his head before running back to the ladder and disappearing into the floor. Jeremie keeps an eye on the computer.

The window flashes, and Jeremie whispers, to himself, “virtualization.”

  


 

He thinks he blacks out for a second - or, maybe he just fell asleep, or woke up, or _something._ He’s floating in the air for a few moments, before gravity kicks in and he plummets to the ground below.

Surprising himself, he lands on his hands and feet, nimbly.

The world around him is searingly bright. There’s trees, but their leaves are the most vivid green he has ever seen, outside of TV or video games. The same goes for the grass below him - he’s startled to realize he’s on some sort of thin path, and when he peers over the edge, it seems to be just. Floating in mid air, and the tree roots tangle together underneath it, but beyond that… a distant body of water.

“Where the hell _am_ I?” he asks aloud, though he appears to be alone. Out of the corner of his vision, he sees some sort of purple snake and when he grabs it, he notes his strange purple gloves he doesn’t remember ever seeing, let alone putting on. He pulls his catch closer to him, and gets distracted by his clawed gloves, covered in yellow stripes.

The thing he thought was a snake looks very similar, and when he traces it back, he realizes it’s _attached_ to him, and when he lets it go, he finds he can actually make it move, just by thinking about it.

“And I’m dressed up like a cat?”

“Odd Della Robbia?” A voice sounds out, though when he whips around, no one is nearby. The voice sounded like it came from _inside_ his head.

“Uh, hello? Who’s there?”

“I’m Jeremie Belpois.”

“Where are you? I can’t see you.”

“I’m not with you, I’m back in that factory you were just in-”

“Am I dreaming?”

“No, you’re wide awake.” A few moments later the voice is quieter, muffled, even though it’s still coming from just inside his head, “Ulrich, Odd has made it to Lyoko, safe and sound.”

“Ulrich, huh? You’re both in on this? Is Kiwi okay?”

“Your dog is fine, Odd”

“Am _I_ fine? Where _am_ I?”

“You’re in a virtual world called Lyoko-”

“Like, a video game.”

“Eh, kind of?”

“Sweet!” He stretches, “this game looks really good? How’s you make it so it feels like I’m in-” he’s interrupted when something hits his shoulder, and he stumbles forward. He turns, and sees a couple of weird things crawling towards him on many legs.

“That’s less sweet. Jeremie, there’s some weird, giant cockroaches here, and I think one just hit me,” one glows red and he’s able to side step the beam that comes his way, “is that supposed to happen?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Oh, alright-”

“But you shouldn’t let them hit you, just - get away from them.”

“Whatever you say,” and he turns tail and starts jogging away, making sure to keep out of the way of any more lasers.

  


 

Ulrich is staring at Sissi, and she seems distressed.

“Ulrich,” comes Jeremie’s voice through some speakers, “Odd’s in danger, he’s being attacked by the same things that were going after Maya.”

“Well, warm up a scanner for me, I’m going in.” It’s his fault Odd’s in there, anyways, so he might as well take some responsibility.

“Going where?” Sissi asks, voice noticeably wavering.

“To a virtual world where weird creatures want you dead. You’re always wanting to go on a date with me, right? This is the perfect time.”

“I- ah, I think I’ll stay here. I’d rather not deal with bloodthirsty monsters. Plus, I’ve got cheerleading tryouts tomorrow! I couldn’t possibly miss it!”

“Suit yourself,” he steps into one of the scanners, “hey, Jeremie! I’m ready! Send me in!”

“Alright,” there must be a speaker inside the scanners, too, ‘cause the voice is tinnier yet still loud even after the door in front of him slides shut. “Transferring Ulrich.”

  


 

“Odd, I’m sending Ulrich Stern in with you.”

“Great! I was starting to get bored here!” He lost track of the cockroaches, and had been idly wandering. He stops to lean against a tree, looking around for his roommate - he still needs to give Ulrich a piece of his mind for dognapping Kiwi out of the blue.

Up in the air, a blue outline of a body appears, and it fills in with color, top down. The face is a familiar one, and he can’t help but laugh when Ulrich plummets to the ground, landing on his face. He looks to Odd, and Odd returns the gesture; Ulrich is dressed up somewhat like a samurai, and when he realizes it he draws his sword, waving it around. It makes _whooshing_ noises as he moves it.

“Hey that’s not fair! He has a sword! I want a sword!”

“Sorry,” Jeremie says, and Ulrich jumps at the sound of it, “I don’t have control over what you look like. Maybe there’s some way the computer assigns roles?  Something subconscious, or based on your physique?”

“What about me screams ‘giant purple cat!’”

“Maybe you’re repressing some things,” Ulrich jokes, and Odd makes a swipe at him.

“It’s unfair,” he flails his hands, “he’s got a super cool sword, and all I’ve got are these dumb claws!”

He tightens his hands into fists, and is caught off guard; arrows fly from his knuckles in a small burst. They narrowly miss Ulrich, who jumps out of the way.

“Hey, be careful!”

“Woah, that’s pretty cool,” he’s examining his hands, deciding a sword is _cool_ and all, but he can fire _arrows_ out of his _hands!_

“Okay, you two need to get to Maya in her tower, I can get you her coordinates here as soon as I can.”

  


 

Jeremie’s looking for the numbers, while thinking about how they may need more help with directions, when the lift door opens, and Delmas walks in, accompanied by Odd’s dog.

“What is all this?” she asks in awe, approaching him.

“It’s the mainframe of a supercomputer - hold on, let me -” the screen glitches, and that target, that _eye_ flashes across it, and he recoils. Kiwi starts yapping up a storm; Jeremie turns, and sees wires rip themselves from the floor, raising up like snakes about to strike, sparks jumping between them and to any metal object within range.

Behind him, Sissi screams.

  


 

“Jeremie? You gonna give us directions or what?” Odd calls out, but Ulrich doesn’t hear any response.

“Well, he said she was in a tower, so maybe she’s over there?” Ulrich points with his sword, towards what he _assumes_ Jeremie meant by ‘tower’. It’s got a faint teal aura around it, which is also weaved into the black goop that makes up its base.

“Well, it’s worth a shot!” Odd rushes off ahead, and Ulrich gives chase. By the time Ulrich stops next to the thing, Odd has done a full circuit around it. “I don’t think it has a door. Maybe Jeremie has to make one?”

“That’s possible,” though he hopes that isn’t the case, since Jeremie seems to have abandoned them for the time being. Odd leans against it, content to wait for direction, and Ulrich just watches in fascination as Odd phases _through_ the wall, flailing just a bit.

“Odd?” He walks to where Odd had just been, and, figuring it doesn’t hurt to try, he pushes through the tower.

He can’t see Odd when his face gets through the wall, but that’s solved pretty quick when the lack-of-floor beneath him pulls him down, and he’s barely able to grab Odd’s ankle, who is hanging by his hands off of a walkway that they probably should have walked onto, had they known.

“Woah! I can’t hold on like this!” Odd strains, but is unable to pull them both up; his claws make a horrible noise against the walkway as his grip slides.

“Well, then let me climb up and I can-” before he can finish speaking, they’re both falling down, down into a stream of code that’s flowing fast, disorienting them as they tumble, twist, flail about -

And then they’re lifted, placed onto the walkway as if by magic. They look at each other, and Odd shakes himself off, like a dog would do with water.

“Remind me to never do _that_ again. I hated that!”

“You’re tellin’ me!” Ulrich can’t help but agree, and he leads the way out of the tower.

They’re surrounded by blue, so much _blue,_ and before Ulrich can form words, Odd beats him to it.

“Where did the trees go? What’s with all the ice? Why’s that tower over there red?”

“I dunno, but I’m more concerned about _those,_ ” and, gesturing once more with his sword, he leads Odd’s eyes to some cubes walking their way.

“Oh, those are different. Think they want us dead too?”

“I would say that’s a really good guess,” they’ve got little domes on their side faces, dead center - the symbol in the middle is the same design as that walkway in the towers.

One lets off a laser in their direction, and they jump away from it, from each other. The monsters quickly surround them, digging their weird pointed legs into the ice beneath them. Ulrich, deciding to not waste any time, leaps on top of one, and starts hacking at the top - his elation at his great jump is quickly overshadowed by the fact that his sword seems to be doing _nothing_ to the creature. It spins, and he loses his balance, falling next to Odd. His saber intercepts a laser that was going to hit Odd, and he perks up.

“Can I block too?” A laser passes dangerously close to both of them as Ulrich rights himself, “Oh, hey, you wouldn’t happen to know how many hit points we have, would y-” Odd gets hit, dead in the chest, and as he falls, his colors flake off in perfect squares, and before he hits the ground, he’s merely a faint blue outline that fades out of existence.

Ulrich glances around, at the three creatures that are _looking_ at him, through him, with those dumb icons, and he lashes out, aims for the center of the target.

He makes purchase, and his sword sinks deep into the thing.

It explodes, its bits flying out just a little, glitching, before being pulled back in and imploding.

“Woah, cool,” is all he can say before two blows, in quick succession, hit him in the back, and everything goes black.

  


 

Odd crawls from the cabin, on his hands and knees, very much feeling like he’s about to lose his lunch. He lets himself lay on the cool, metal floor, and wills the sensation to go away.

Another one opens, and Ulrich is seated inside, gasping for air.

“Well, that went poorly,” he mutters, then coughs into his hand, blearily making eye contact with Odd.

“Yeah, my stomach’s tellin me the same exact thing,” he wishes nothing more than to lay on the floor for a while, when a set of shouts come from a floor up. He groans in complaint, but when he sees Ulrich get his feet under him, he pushes himself up too. Climbing the ladder is like torture, but when he pokes his head into this new room - a control room, of sorts - he spies a boy who must be Jeremie, suspended a couple meters up, wrapped up tight in wires, his hair sticking up and a small trail of smoke raising off of him.

Another wire, in front of him, is lifting itself up to Jeremie’s height, and Odd doesn’t even _think_ about moving until he hears Ulrich’s own scream - he had grabbed a piece of metal, dislodged from the floor, and tried to drive it through the live wire, but electricity surges out from the severed wires and has him frozen on the spot.

“Ulrich!” Sissi cries out, and tackles him, disconnecting him from the source and severing the circuit. The sparking wire turns from Jeremie to Ulrich, provoked, and Odd does the only thing he can think of: He sprints towards the half severed section, palms out, and slams his hands against the edges of the metal sheet sticking out from it.

It _hurts_ really, really bad, but his momentum pushes the sheet metal through the rest of the wire and it falls to the ground, sparking for just a few moments more.

The rest of the wires seem to lose their fight at that, and they collapse, slowly at first, and Jeremie is slammed against the ground as they tip over. There is only the sound of breathing, from the four of them. Odd examines his palms; they’re red, bleeding sluggishly from a slice across  the heels of his palms where he must’ve connected with the metal, and the skin around the wounds are charred slightly.

Ulrich is looking at his own hands, and they’re worse off than Odd’s, in the sense that the electricity seems to have burned them more - a few welts along his fingers, his palms a deep, _angry_ red.

Jeremie hasn’t moved, and Odd makes his way over to him - crawling, at first, until he realizes just how terrible it feels, and gets to his feet. He crouches next to him, pushing on his shoulder with the back of his hand.

“Jeremie? Are you okay?” He gets a groan in response - promising, he thinks, at least he’s _conscious._

He stays close as Jeremie pulls himself from the mess of wires, wincing when he uses his hands. Sissi seems to be the only one unharmed - though she’s jumpier than the rest of them.

Odd offers his help, and Jeremie gives him a grateful look as his arm goes around Odd’s shoulders, aiding him into a standing position.

“Thanks, my legs feel kind of funny. I’m sure they’ll come around in a bit.” He doesn’t sound too sure of that, so Odd isn’t convinced, but he helps Jeremie to the chair regardless. Around the edge of the glowing thing in the center, Odd sees Kiwi peeking out, and he drops to his knees.

“C’mere Kiwi! It’s okay boy, everything’s alright!” The dog races to him, but stops short, sniffing with concern at his hands.

He whines, and Odd nearly pets him before reconsidering. He uses his arm instead of his hand to do so, and Kiwi licks his unoccupied palm. It hurts, but he knows Kiwi just wants to help.

“Maya?” Jeremie says, and Odd and the others gather around the chair, to look at the screen. A girl is displayed, and she’s pretty cute, Odd decides.

“I’m here. Is everything alright on your side?”

Jeremie looks at Ulrich and Sissi, then to Odd, before he locks eyes with Maya once more.

“It was a little hectic here for a bit, but we’re okay now.”

Odd looks back to his hands.

_We’re okay now._

Are they okay?


End file.
